Project Name：Project for Strengthening Metabolic Chronic Disease Prevention and Control Systems in the Kingdom of Eswatini

Project status：Projects in Operation

Cooperating Country：Kingdom of Eswatini

Project Description：

In recent years, the prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) has significantly increased in Eswatini. In fact, the nation’s Client Management Information System (CMIS) reveals that more than 90% of EmaSwati report having one or more risk factors for a metabolic syndrome. According to 2021 population estimates, approximately 182,665 people were living with hypertension and 105,871 more were living with diabetes, among other metabolic chronic diseases. These figures demonstrate the high societal burden of these conditions and indicate the need for an urgent halt to their increase. Based on Taiwanese experience in the prevention and control of NCDs and in response to Eswatini’s needs, the TaiwanICDF and National Taiwan Hospital University Hsin-Chu Branch (NTUH Hsin-Chu Branch) will jointly work with the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Eswatini to target the country’s two most densely populated areas, the Manzini and Hhohho regions, with a health care initiative addressing these conditions. This project aims to assist the Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini in enhancing its health care facilities in order to strengthen metabolic chronic disease prevention and control systems. Its contents include:

A. Enhancing the policy-forming capabilities for metabolic chronic disease prevention and control.

B.  Strengthening the capacity of prevention and treatment of diabetes and hypertension at the health facility level.

C. Raising the awareness of metabolic chronic disease prevention among the population at the community level.

Implementation Start Date：2024-09-04

Implementation End Date：2027-12-31

Project Objectives：

The objectives of this project are:

A. Enhancing the policy-forming capabilities for metabolic chronic disease prevention and control.

 a. Invite two MoH officials who are in charge of health policy planning to visit Taiwan to understand Taiwan’s policies and practices for the prevention and control of metabolic chronic diseases.
 b. Assist the MoH in conducting a secondary analysis of the data.
 c. Conduct at least one conference related to the prevention and control of metabolic chronic diseases

B. Strengthening the capacity of prevention and treatment of diabetes and hypertension at the health facility level.
 a. Upgrade screening capacities for diabetes and hypertension in the targeted health facilities
 b. Enrich the capacity of health personnel in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diabetes and hypertension

C. Raising the awareness of metabolic chronic disease prevention among the population at the community level.
 a. Build the capacity of rural health motivators (RHMs)­ and strengthen self-awareness in high-risk groups
 b. Raise public awareness of metabolic chronic disease prevention at the community level.

Implementation Arrangement：

Members of the Project will provide technical assistance and assistance for capacity building.

Current Progress：

This project was launched in September 2024. In addition, to the end of June 2024, the following activities have been carried out during project preparation phase:

1. Eight seed instructors received training at the National Taiwan University Hospital Hsinchu Branch.
2. Completed the draft of the community screening standard operating procedure manual.
3. Secondary analysis research on the risk factors of chronic diseases has been selected as the project's research topic in collaboration with the Ministry of Health of Eswatini.
4. Completed 1 on-the-job training session and trained 40 health personnel.

5. Completed the establishment of 2 chronic disease screening teams, and will begin providing chronic disease screening services in July.

6. Weekly chronic disease health education broadcasts started on June 14th, and a total of 3 broadcasts were held by the end of June.

7. Print 12,000 copies of health education leaflets on diabetes and hypertension.

Project Performance：

Strengthening Eswatini's Metabolic Chronic Disease Prevention and Control System

Project Contact：An-Lun Chang

Phone：+886 28886059

E-mail：al.chang@icdf.org.tw

Mission：Taiwan Technical Mission in the Kingdom of Eswatini (Former Swaziland)